The race for the ANC Youth League’s top post was heating up ahead of its elective conference set to take place in two weeks.
President Julius Malema on Saturday said there were people who had been funded by big corporations to remove youth league leaders who supported the nationalisation of mines.
Malema is a driving force behind the move to nationalise South African mines.
“They have gone to these people [big business] and said, ‘fund us to remove these people who want to nationalise mines’,” he said.
He said league members needed to be made aware of people who were funded by big businesses because this undermined the struggle.
According to media reports, Gauteng chairperson Lebogang Maile will challenge Malema for the presidency at the congress.
Malema also said there were people who were planning to disrupt the conference in Johannesburg.
“They want to put the interim leadership in during the conference,” he said.
He also issued a warned to those who planned to disrupt the conference, saying iIll discipline would not be tolerated.
“Don’t be chaotic. We are ready for people who want anarchy,” he said.
He said youth league members needed to avoid a repeat the of the league’s previous chaotic conference in Mangaung.
Malema was warmly welcomed by delegates at the league’s provincial congress at the Durban City Hall on Saturday. They chanted slogans calling for him to be given a second term and sand “UMalema uyabuya” [Malema is coming back].
The league’s provincial secretary, Bheki Mtolo, and the provincial chairperson Mthandeni Dlungwana have publicly supported Malema’s bid for the second term.
Introducing Malema on Saturday, Dlungwana said: “We will choose him again”.
Malema also commended the youth of KwaZulu-Natal for voting for the ruling party during the recent local government elections.
“You have done well. You even went to the so-called Inkatha Freedom Party strongholds. You have killed the IFP,” he said.
He called on the youth to take over the leadership of the working class, saying that it lacked militant leadership.
“At least Cosatu is trying. The issues that are raised by the youth league are supposed to be raised elsewhere,” he said.
Covert support
The promise of the covert support of at least five provincial chairpersons made Maile decide to take on Malema, according to ANC leaders on both sides of the battle.
Maile has had limited success so far in his campaign to unseat Malema, who has the support of most of the regions that have declared their leadership preferences, the Mail & Guardian reported on June 3.
A senior official in the Malema camp was quoted as saying: “The chairpersons of five provinces — Gauteng, Free State, KwaZulu-Natal, Mpumalanga and Eastern Cape have given an instruction to their youth leagues that they should work to secure a win for Maile in the [national elective] conference. But what they don’t understand is those people don’t win conferences, only the delegates are there,” he said.
Maile’s supporters did not deny this, but said they would not reveal any details that might scupper his campaign. They do admit that the support of these high-level ANC leaders helped them “a great deal” in the run-up to the campaign.
“The leadership of the ANC in provinces helped us to make inroads. They helped us to launch branches and smoothed things over for us,” a Maile campaigner said. “We are close to the leadership of the ANC and we used the advantage of having sound relationships with people in all provinces.”
The Malema supporter said the reason some provincial leaders were siding with Maile was the ANC’s 2012 presidential campaign.
“These people want Zuma [to remain for a second term]; everything now is about 2012. This is why they [Maile’s supporters] have these levels of confidence that they have,” he said. – Sapa and Staff reporter